Practice Management Alert

Question: I noticed that a practice recently received a sizable fine for turning away a patient with a service animal. Our practice also has strict policies for service animals; are we at risk for similar fines?

Codify Subscriber

Answer: The practice that received the $125,000 fine had an employee inappropriate disclose a patient’s protected health information (PHI) to a television journalist. The service animal debacle was an incidental detail and did not have much to do with the fine.

“In February 2015, a patient of Allergy Associates contacted a local television station to speak about a dispute that had occurred between the patient and an Allergy Associates’ doctor. The reporter subsequently contacted the doctor for comment and the doctor impermissibly disclosed the patient’s protected health information to the reporter,” says a press release put out by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) newsroom.

The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) completed an investigation looking into how the impermissible disclosure happened and whether the practice took any corrective or disciplinary action.

“OCR’s investigation found that the doctor’s discussion with the reporter demonstrated a reckless disregard for the patient’s privacy rights and that the disclosure occurred after the doctor was instructed by Allergy Associates’ Privacy Officer to either not respond to the media or respond with ‘no comment.’ Additionally, OCR’s investigation revealed that Allergy Associates failed to take any disciplinary action against the doctor or take any corrective action following the impermissible disclosure to the media,” the release says.

The takeaway? Don’t let a personal reaction become an official response.

“When a patient complains about a medical practice, doctors cannot respond by disclosing private patient information to the media,” said Roger  Severino, director at the Office for Civil Rights. “Because egregious disclosures can lead to substantial penalties, covered entities need to pay close attention to HIPAA’s privacy rules, especially when responding to press inquiries.”

If you’re curious about the resolution agreement and corrective action plan the practice must adhere to, you can find it on the OCR website: http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/compliance-enforcement/agreements/allergyassociates/index.html.